


falling in four languages

by andunetir



Series: femslash february 2ktheyty [1]
Category: Star Trek: Discovery
Genre: Brief Allusion to Sexytimes, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Severe Migraine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-02
Updated: 2020-02-02
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:41:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22519408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/andunetir/pseuds/andunetir
Summary: It begins with Standard, as these things tend to do on a starship. At first, over lunch with the bridge crew, then over dinner with Airiam, and, at last, over drinks in Keyla’s quarters, long after they should have gone back to their respective beds.
Relationships: Keyla Detmer/Joann Owosekun
Series: femslash february 2ktheyty [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1626556
Comments: 7
Kudos: 25





	falling in four languages

**Author's Note:**

  * For [dianano](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dianano/gifts).



> All translations included in the end notes; if something has been mistranslated, please let me know, as I speak none of the languages featured in this (besides Standard, but that doesn't count).

It begins with Standard, as these things tend to do on a starship. At first, over lunch with the bridge crew, then over dinner with Airiam, and, at last, over drinks in Keyla’s quarters, long after they should have gone back to their respective beds.

Keyla’s accent grows stronger with every sip of her Cosmo. It’s her third language and one of Joann’s first two, so it isn’t really fair, but Joann can’t help but laugh as she attempts to mime out the word she’s forgetting.

Keyla swats at her, pouting petulantly. Joann catches her hand and turns it over. Traces the lines on her palm, then brings it to her lips, pressing a kiss to the pad of each finger.

When she looks up again, Keyla’s non-augmented eye is dark. They’re both a little tipsy and Joann knows they shouldn’t, but when Keyla grabs her by the jacket and pulls her close, she can’t find it within herself to turn away.

Keyla kisses with the dazzling brilliance of a neutron star, and all Joann can do is close her eyes. Her hand finds Keyla’s and laces their fingers together. Their callouses align perfectly, hers from ploughing the earth, Keyla’s from guiding aircraft across the sky.

Keyla presses her forehead to hers and mumbles, “Beautiful,” and Joann looks deep into those mismatched eyes and thinks, _Not nearly as beautiful as you._

****

When Keyla finds out that she knows some French, she promptly refuses to speak to her in anything else. She does this specifically because Joann is terrible at French, and it was funny for the first couple of days, but Keyla just falls over laughing whenever she talks and now Joann is dying to know what she’s been saying wrong.

“Pourquoi es-tu comme ça?” she asks, lying flat on her face on the floor. Keyla, who has been mocking her despair for the past hour, giggles from where she’s curled up on the couch.

“Je pourrais écouter le son de ta voix pour le reste de ma vie,” she answers. “Je suis tellement amoureux de toi, beau fou incroyable.”

Joann lets out a low groan. “I don’t know why we’re dating when all you do is torture me like this.” A pause, as her brain catches up with Keyla’s last sentence, and Joann realises, “Wait. Did you just say...?”

She rolls over and sits up, just in time for Keyla to straddle her lap. Her grey eye is shining, her smile the softest Joann’s ever seen.

“Je t’aime.” A kiss. “Je t’aime, je t’aime tellement, pour toujours et à jamais.” Kiss. “Si le monde se termine aujourd'hui, je mourrai en t'aimant.” Kiss. “Je t’aime, Joann Owosekun.” Kiss, this time on the nose. “Je t’aime.”

It’s the middle of the day and Joann feels like an idiot, because she’s waited so long to hear those words that she’s going to cry in front of her girlfriend, for goodness’ sake. It’s just—she left home as a teenager and never looked back, and she’s been drifting ever since, never settling long enough to hold onto anyone else.

Keyla cups her cheeks and kisses the tears from her eyes. She doesn’t seem worried that Joann is so quiet. Joann only loves her more for the way she understands, even when Joann doesn’t know how to say it.

She thinks, _Ever since we met, you have drawn me closer to you. All I can do is fall forever in your orbit._

She thinks, _No matter how long and far we fly, I know I can always ground myself in your touch._

She thinks, _You are my diving hawk. You are my sun after the rain._

She thinks, _I love you,_ and remembers that these are words she does have. In French, in Standard, in every language she’s ever learnt.

She has waited all her life for someone who wants to listen to her say them.

“Je t’aime.”

Keyla wraps her arms tight around her shoulders. Joann buries her face in the crook of her neck and surrenders to the gravity of the hug.

****

It’s impossible not to pick up fragments of German once they move in together. Joann pieces together Keyla’s gasps to form _schneller_ and _mehr_ and _genau dort, ja, oh, oh,_ **_oh—_ **

She’s sometimes woken in the middle of the night by moans, Keyla’s side of the bed cold. Joann usually finds her on the floor. She looks up at her with tears streaming down her face, sobbing in garbled phrases Joann doesn’t know.

“Es tut weh,” she cries, as Joann pulls her head into her lap, “es tut weh.” Joann strokes her hair and massages the area around her implant, holds onto her when she starts to kick and slam her fists against the floor.

“Es tut weh,” and it hurts Joann, too, watching the love of her life struggle with the vise clamping viciously down on her brain.

She sings to her, when the worst of it is over. Lullabies were one of the few things she carried with her from the collective; her fathers sang them to her and now she sings them to Keyla, the melody lulling her to sleep even though she doesn’t understand the words.

Joann tugs the blanket off the bed and covers them both. Her legs have long fallen asleep under Keyla’s head, but nothing short of a red alert could make her move now. She sings softly and strokes her hair, watching the furrow of Keyla’s brow slowly ease in her sleep.

When her throat goes dry, she whispers to her instead. Sweet, silly little things in Yoruba, like _onitemi_ and _ife_ and _oyin, omorewa._

“Mo ma toju e,” she promises. “Mo ma se ke e. Ife mi, onitemi.”

The warp trails streak blue across her cheek. She shields them from Keyla’s augmented eye, listening to her breathing.

“Mo ni fe e. Mo ma toju e.”

She will hold onto her all through the night, and, when morning comes, they will both wake to hold each other for another day. That’s all Joann asks of the universe. One more day, and then one more day after that.

**Author's Note:**

> All French courtesy of Google Translate and double-checked by the Disco RP discord (thanks, S and Deca!), all German courtesy of dict.cc, all Yoruba taken from [this Youtube video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7i_3h-ZsINI) and [this forum post](https://www.nairaland.com/1007784/yoruba-terms-endearment/1). Please let me know if any of these are incorrect/if there's a better or more appropriate way to say it!
> 
> Pourquoi es-tu comme ça? = Why are you like this?
> 
> Je pourrais écouter le son de ta voix pour le reste de ma vie = I could listen to the sound of your voice forever
> 
> Je suis tellement amoureux de toi, beau fou incroyable = I am so in love with you, beautiful, incredible fool
> 
> Je t’aime = I love you
> 
> Je t’aime tellement, pour toujours et à jamais = I love you so much, forever and ever
> 
> Si le monde se termine aujourd'hui, je mourrai en t'aimant = If the world ends today, I will die loving you
> 
> schneller = faster
> 
> mehr = more
> 
> genau dort, ja = right there, yes
> 
> Es tut weh = It hurts
> 
> onitemi = my own
> 
> ife (mi) - (my) love
> 
> oyin = honey (also, the name of the actor who plays Joann!)
> 
> omorewa = beauty/beautiful
> 
> Mo ma toju e = I will take care of you
> 
> Mo ma se ke e = I will look after you
> 
> Mo ni fe e = I love you
> 
> Want me to write something for Femslash February? See my list of fandoms and ships [here](https://andunetir.tumblr.com/post/190503256827/femslash-february), and send in your requests [here](https://andunetir.tumblr.com/ask)!


End file.
